Jerzy Jedlicki (born Jerzy Grossman 14 June 1930,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

– died 31 January 2018, Warsaw) was a Polish historian of ideas,

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

Professor and an anti-communist activist during the times of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...

Life and work

Born into an assimilated Jewish family, he graduated in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

from the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

in 1952. In 1989, he was granted the title of a Humanities Professor. He worked at the Institute of History of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society o ...

(PAN). He specialized in the history of the culture of the 18th-20th centuries as well as social history. He was also a member of the Warsaw-based Collegium Invisibile. Since 1948, he was a member of the Union of Youth Struggle and later the Polish Youth Union (ZMP). Between 1952–1968 he was a member of the communist

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

(Polish: ''Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza'', PZPR) which he left as a sign of protest against the so-called

March events The March Days or March Events () was a period of inter-ethnic strife and clashes which led to the death of about 12,000 Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani: "The results of the March events were immediate and total for the Musavat. Several hundred ...

of 1968. He was the only member of the Institute of History of PAN who decided to resign from the membership of the ruling communist party in Poland at that time. He took part in the discussions at the Crooked Circle Club and was a signatory of the 101 Memorial, an initiative of Polish intellectuals aimed against changes to the Constitution of Poland of 1952. Since 1977, he dealt with organizing meetings of the Flying University. He was the founder, lecturer and member of the Scientific Training Association. He collaborated with the Student Committee of Solidarity and participated in the Doświadczenie i Przyszłość ("Experience and Future") discussion group. In 1980, he became a member of the

Solidarity movement Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...

. After the imposition of the Martial law in Poland he was interned since December 1981 until July 1982. He published articles in opposition magazines such as ''Tygodnik Mazowsze''. After the

fall of communism in Poland Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

, he became involved in the activities of PEN Club. He was appointed a member of the supervisory board of the Polish Information Agency and chairman of the "Open Res Publica" Association Against Anti-Seminitsm and Xenophobia. In 2009, he was awarded (together with Maciej Janowski and Magdalena Micińska) the Jerzy Giedroyc Prize for their collaborative work entitled ''Dzieje inteligencji polskiej do roku 1918'' ("The History of the Polish Intelligentsia until 1918"). In 2011,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercis ...

awarded him with the Commander's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

. In 2015, he received the

Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science The Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science () is the most prestigious scientific award in Poland given every year from 1992 by a non-governmental non-profit Polish organization, Foundation for Polish Science (). The prize is widely regarded a ...

in the humanities and social sciences category for his "fundamental studies on the phenomenon of the intelligentsia as a social stratum and its role in modernization processes in Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

". He died on 31 January 2018 and was buried at the

Powązki Military Cemetery Powązki Military Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquial ...

in Warsaw.

Selected publications

*''Klejnot i bariery społeczne: przeobrażenia szlachectwa polskiego w schyłkowym okresie feudalizmu'', Warsaw 1968 *''Jakiej cywilizacji Polacy potrzebują: studia z dziejów idei i wyobraźni XIX wieku'', PWN, Warsaw 1988 *''Źle urodzeni, czyli o doświadczeniu historycznym'', Aneks, London 1993 *''Świat zwyrodniały. Lęki i wyroki krytyków nowoczesności, Sic!'', Warsaw 2000 *''Błędne koło 1832–1864'', (collaborative work: Dzieje inteligencji polskiej do roku 1918), Institute of History PAN, Warsaw 2008 *''Droga do narodowej klęski'', Warsaw 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jedlicki, Jerzy 1930 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Academic staff of the University of Warsaw University of Warsaw alumni Polish dissidents Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists Polish United Workers' Party members Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Polish atheists Politicians from Warsaw

Life and work

Selected publications

See also

References